


The Little Things

by MissBlissWrites



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Cute, F/M, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 08:13:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17556635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissBlissWrites/pseuds/MissBlissWrites
Summary: “We heard a rumor,” Saide grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you to sit down between her and Abigal. God, now you were trapped.  What on earth could they have to say?“Yeah?”“Mhm!” Abigal grabbed your hand and held it tightly between her own, “Is it true? You and Arthur?”





	The Little Things

**Author's Note:**

> I love Arthur Morgan. Thanks. Have a good read :)
> 
> follow me on tumblr! (missblisswrite.tumblr.com)

Like every morning, your tent was empty with a warm breeze drifting through it. Lemoyne county was indeed hot. But with camp set up right alongside the lake, it was a little cooler than the rest of the southern county. You sat up in your bed and took the time to rub the sleep out of your eyes.

Your tent was cute and similar to John’s. It was an actual tent. White and with room for a little table at the side of your bed and several boxes filled with your things. No one could see inside as well, which gave you the comfort of privacy. 

After several yawns and stretches, you looked over to your bedside table. A sleepy smile crawled onto your face. There sat a single flower. It was a honeysuckle flower sitting there on your table. You picked it up and brought it to your knows, thinking that you knew that book would come in handy.

“Bonds of love,” You whispered. Every morning Arthur would leave a flower for you, letting you know how much he moved you. The poor cowboy could write all his feeling in his journal all he wanted, but the damn man could never actually speak them. You got him a silly little book that taught him the language of flowers. It was something cute, and quiet romantic to say the least. 

Tucking the flower into an empty book, you pressed it flat and put the book back on your desk. Today had started off pretty good, you wondered what else it had in store for you.

After cleaning yourself up and getting dressed, you took on the camp. Leaving your tent you walked pasts, several people. All smiling and greeting you, but Uncle stopped you on your way to get breakfast.

“H-hey! My good friend, (Y/n)! Ho-how are you!?” He had this big cheeky smile on his face as he followed you to the stew pot. You knew exactly what he wanted.

“I’m not giving you any money, old man,” You tried your best to ignore him.

This old bag of dirt must have asked everyone else in the camp before he started begging you. He seemed pretty desperate, “Please? Please, I’ll pay you back!”

You got some attitude as you slopped down a spoonful of stew, “And what the hell are you going to spend it on? Hm?” You looked Uncle in the eye and gave him a dark glare, “Booze?”

Uncle grew sheepish, then defensive, “You rotten woman,” He muttered, “Got no heart to help the elderly,” He walked off after that and left you alone.

Thank God. You took your food and went to your regular spot to eat. You did enjoy being on the lake so much, you found a rock a good few years down the beach that you’d sit on have something to eat. The sun had just finished getting over the horizon. Sunrises were better than sunsets, in your opinion. A warm breeze kept fluttering past you while crows cawed out and morning doves hooted. 

You wondered, though with peace of mind, where Arthur could have been. He normally got up right before dawn when it was still dark out. He’d do his morning chores then rush off someplace out into the open world. 

He didn’t leave a note this morning, meaning he’d be back before noon. You finished your breakfast and went back to camp to start your chores. You’d first have to brush, clean and feed your horse. Then you’d help Pearson for the morning dish. After that, you’d take inventory on the camp supplies and leave a list of things needed by the ledger. 

Dutch always stopped you right about around then. Just like he always did, he smiled at you and asked, “Good morning, (Y/n), how are you this muggy morning?”

You didn’t look up for a few second, stuck trying to write down the numbers of supplies that the camp needed. Once you did that you slapped the ledger closed and greeted Dutch with just as big if a smile, “Mornin’ Dutch. I’m doing pretty okay today, a little better than normal. How about you?”

He closed his own book while leaving a finger snug in place on the page he was reading, “Aw you know, the same as always. I can not stand this god damn weather though,” He waved a hand around, “I don’t mind the heat. It’s the god damn muggy thickness of this swamp air.”

“We’ll get back to the desert,” You fondly remembered those years spent baking in the sun, “Or maybe that silly island you want. You know it’s muggy on islands too,”

“You ever been to one?” He raised a brow, giving you that look he gave any of his freakishly adopted children, you were one of them.

“An island? Psh... No,” You rolled your eyes, obviously, he knew that. The damn outlaw raised you since you could remember, “But I read. You read. Read a book about an island, Dutch, maybe you’ll learn you can’t grow fruit on them and there are more lizards there than in this gang,” 

He made this face, then swatted you away with his hand like you were an annoying fly bothering his reading. You went back to your chores gladfully. To escape a lecture from Dutch about how the world worked was a god damn blessing.

As you got done carrying firewood to the campfire pits scattered around camp, you got waved over to Sadie and Abigal sitting at one of the pits. They were probably your closest friends here outside the awkward family you had. Hosea and Dutch as the odd couple with their three bad-tempered children, you, Arthur and John. The rest of the gang was family too, for sure, but not as close. 

“Heya, (Y/n),” Abigal smiled at you wide. The look on her face made you a raise a brow in confusion. She seemed to be gushing with excitement, oddly enough so did Sadie. The looked like giggly giddy school girls honestly.

You waved a weak hand at them, “Hi... What’s up?”

“We heard a rumor,” Saide grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you to sit down between her and Abigal. God, now you were trapped.  What on earth could they have to say?

“Yeah?” 

“Mhm!” Abigal grabbed your hand and held it tightly between her own, “Is it true? You and Arthur?”

_Shit!_  Your eyes grew wide for a second but you quickly hide your surprise and put on a cool smile, “What about me and Arthur?”

“Well! That you guys are.. you know...” She trailed off, not finishing her thoughts but was implying that you knew what she was going to say.

You kept playing stupid, not saying a word. You didn’t want to admit anything she was about to insinuate. Especially if it had to do with Arthur. Truth is, nobody knew you and Arthur we a thing. You both tried your very best to keep your relationship status unknown to the gang. Simply because you knew that it would cause problems with certain members. This wasn’t some movie, it wasn’t romantic to be around thugs all the time. It wasn’t safe or even remotely pleasant to be openly together within the gang.

Arthur and you agreed to keep your feelings for each other a secret. But you never came up with a plan if they found out. You both just planned for them to never find out.

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” You finally said. 

Sadie saw right through your bullshit. Like the wild child she was she bluntly said loudly, “Don’t you act like we don’t see what you two have been doing!”

In fear that she would out you to the whole gang, you quickly hushed her with your hand, “Q-quiet! I... I ain’t doing a thing with Arthur, okay?”

She smacked your hand away while glaring at you, “Then why’s the both of you always looking at each other the way Bill looks at pork ribs?”

_Excuse me?_ ”What's that even suppose to mean?” 

Abigal held back a giggle and tugged on your hand, you were getting dizzy looking back and forth between these crazy women, “Hungry!”  _Oh my God..._ “You  _want_  each other!” Her voice was barely a whisper. Good God. What have you gotten yourself into? This was getting worse by the second, “And we see you two always ‘ _going into town’_ and what not,” She made air quotes which caused Sadie to laugh.

Sadie agreed too while making you look back at her, “Mhm! You gotta tell her what  _John_ said, tell her!” 

“Oh jeeze,” You mumbled under your breath. What on earth did  _John_ say? What could he know? Nothing! No one knows anything! You really wished Arthur would get back right about now. What time was it again? Was it noon yet? Who knows...

Forced to sit there, you decided to look at the ground while Abigal spoke, “John said he saw you and Arthur sneak off the other night,”  _Oh no... No!_  Your blood started to freeze, “He said something like... Something how you two went swimming! At night! Together in the lake!”

God dammit! Shit! You quickly stood up off the log you were forced to be stuck on. You had to get out of here! “Is that Hosea? Hosea!” You saw the old man and used him as the perfect bait to escape this mess.

As you ran away you heard Sadie click her tongue and said, “Deny, deny, deny, means you got something to hide,” Her silly little threatening rhyme only made you run faster.

At the same time, you made Hosea greatly confused. He was just minding his own business, making it from point A to B when you came running up to him. You nearly fell on your face in the process.

“Heeeey!!” You exclaimed out of breath and frazzled, “How’s the day treating you, Hosea?” 

He was not taking your odd behavior well. And in his almighty wisdom, he shook his head, “Arthur’s not back yet, calm down,” This word’s nearly flung you into the sun.

_Oooooh nooooooo._ You slapped on hands into your face to hide your shame and avoid letting Hosea see how red your face got, “Where is John?” You whined from behind your palms.

Hosea sat himself down at a table and pulled out a book. He kicked his feet up and rested them on the table. Without even batting an eye he opened his book and said, “He’s taking watch outside the camp,” As you started rushing off to find John, Hosea had to add, “He’s not the one that told me!”  _What!?!_

This only made you break into a full out sprint, “JOHN MARSTON!” You started to scream. He was somewhere in the tree line and you could see him yet but you could hear him.

“(Y/n)?”

There! He was standing a few feet off the beaten path, leaning against a large rock. When he saw you, he went as pale a ghost. Or maybe it was your threat that made him drop his gun and instantly crouch down and cover his head.

“I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!” As soon as you got near him, you threw yourself at the man and tackled him to the ground. This wasn’t the first time you had done this, and certainly not the last. Both you and John had a weird flashback to your childhood when John used to tease you and you’d beat him up for it. 

John didn’t do anything but fend you off. He knew why you were here and he knew what he did. He even fit a few laughs in every time you smack his arms and flung his hat away. 

“You think this is funny!?” You grabbed him by the shirt, standing above him while he was laying in the dirt, “What’s the matter with you? Why you telling lies about me and Arthur? Huh?! Who’d you tell you stupid raccoon! You trashy ugly man!”

John surely was the brother you never ever wanted in your entire life. He was quite a bit younger than you. You were closer in age to Arthur than you were with John. And John, being so young, was filled with bullshit and annoying tendencies. 

“Why what on earth could you be talking about?” His toothy broken smile just made you want to smack him some more.

You made a face, twisted your arm back and got ready to punch him, but you gave him one last chance to fess up, “What. Did. You. Tell. Abigal?”

He still kept that shit eating grin on his mouth. Before he could even get a word in, you both turned your heads at the same time to the sound of horse hooves beating along the dirt.

It was quite the sight to behold. Artur had just gotten done ransacking an O’driscoll camp and he was very much ready to get back to camp in time for lunch. He was mostly looking forward to you. On the days camp was slow, and you had all the time in the world to yourselves, the two of you would go on “hunting trips” which was code for going getting the hell out of camp for some alone time. And! You guys would go hunting and bring something back for camp! So it wasn’t a total lie!

He did not expect what so ever to run into John being beaten by You. The both of you stared at him like he was a ghost or something.

“What in God’s name are you dumbasses doing?” He slowed his horse but didn’t dismount.

John threw you off him and scrambled to his feet. It was almost like he was scared to be this close to you all of a sudden as if Arthur knew the jig was up and was going to throw him in the lake to drown. But Arthur didn’t know so he just sat there on his horse waiting for an answer.

After about a minute of silence, John grabbed his forgotten gun and booked for it, “I gotta go!” He laughed, “But you two have fun now! Enjoy the  _privacy_!” 

Arthur made a face, “You gonna tell me what’s going on?” He was rightly confused and annoyed at this point.

Sighing and trying to find your words, you went over to Arthur and his horse. He held out a hand for you to grab and get on. As you pulled yourself onto the back of his mount, you avoided his question and asked, “Can we go for a ride?”

His answer was a silent yes as he spurred his horse around and headed away from camp. It wasn’t until you were out of the woods did you sling your arms around Arthur's waist, squeezing him tight and pressing your cheek against his back, “They know...” You barely whispered. 

It felt like you were about to be in for a world of hurt. There was no way the whole camp didn’t know by now. Arthur slowed his horse to a walk, “They?”

“The camp,”

“And what do they know?” Arthur was kind of a stupid man who didn’t pick up on context clues.

It was hard to summon the courage to tell Arthur what had happened. It was also kind of embarrassing. So you decided to start it off from a different angle, “You remember the other night? When we went for a swim down the shore from camp?

Arthur cleared his throat and let out a gruff, “Yeah,” Not like he didn’t want to remember the other night. It was... very fun. Something he’d never done before. Swimming nude a lake with a woman he could barely keep his hands off of. But the tone in your voice made it sound like this was bad. He didn’t know what to expect. 

With a shaky voice you started, “Well... Uh...” You paused to just press your whole face into his back, screamed a bit, then rushed out, “ _John saw us!!!”_

Oh...  _Oh....._ ** _Oooooh.._..**

Okay. 

Arthur didn’t realize it but his horse stopped walking. He spurred her a bit and clicked his tongue, “Come on, Madam,” She went back to a soft trot, taking them out of Lemoyne county and into New Hanover. 

He took in such a big breath, you could feel the tension in his muscles as he sighed and then cleared his throat, “Hm,” is the only sound he made for a bit. This was a bit awkward. Arthur couldn’t find his words really and You didn’t have anything else to say either. Meanwhile, Arthur was stuck in his head. 

This news meant that everyone in camp knew or would soon know about them. Which was the last thing he wanted. In fact, he wanted no one to know because he was afraid of what Dutch might think... and do. And not the kind of afraid that he was romantically interested in you. He was the kind of afraid that Dutch might take it wrong and use you against him.

Arthur had slowly been growing more and more towards the fantasy of running away with you. Dutch was slowly but surely losing his god damn mind. He was getting more violent, more angry, more sinister and far far less than what he used to be. Or maybe he was always that way and he just good at hiding it. Arthur wasn’t sure.

He didn’t need Dutch questioning his loyalty any more than he already was. It was heartbreaking, watching his mentor and father figure turn into a sociopath. It was just as bad for you too. The both of you wanted to escape. Right now just wasn’t the time. You didn’t want anyone to suspect that you’d run away. Together. 

It was bad enough watching Dutch turn on Abigal. Saying she was poisoning John’s mind, turning him against the gang. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t nice. You couldn’t imagine what it was like to have a  _family_  in the gang, let alone a relationship. That’s why you and Arthur were so careful, or so you thought.

“What do you want to do?” You broke Arthur from his mind and thoughts, tired of the silence as you got further and further into New Hanover.

“Who knows?” He was trying to take this slow.

You sighed, “Probably everyone by now. It don't take long for news like that to get around,”

“Maybe they’ll be happy for us,” He bitterly said. He knew some would be happy for you guys. But not everyone, “Might throw a party,” his sarcasm dripped heavily from his tongue, “Might even give us a wedding they’d be so _damn_  happy for us!”

For a second your mind buzzed on the word  _wedding_  but you flushed it away quickly, “What about Dutch?”

“So what?” Arthur seemed like he was getting frustrated. He clicked his tongue and ushered his beloved horse  _Madam_  to go faster, “Dutch can just... He can... Ugh! He can go  _fuck_  himself. We go back there now he’s gonna be all cool and great! He’s gonna  _love it_!” 

That was the biggest fear. That Dutch would play his word games and make it seem like he was happy for the two of you but instead, he’d twist it around and somehow make you guys feel guilty for loving each other. 

“I don’t care about Dutch,” Arthur went on. His words surprised you, “He can make us do this, send us out to do that. He could keep us apart by keeping us busy with the gang.  _I don’t care_.” Before you knew it, you were both back in Valentine. But Arthur just strutted on through town and kept going. Where were you going? So you asked. Arthur said, “Strawberry,” like it was the only place in the world he wanted to be.

So maybe he wasn’t taking the news well? You rode in silence to Strawberry, minute Arthur talking to himself. Muttering this and that about how Dutch could go get fucked by a train or something like that. But really you knew he was scared. Scared to go back and face the wrath of Mr. Van der Linde. He really just wanted to spend this day with you. And that’s what he was going to fucking do.

By the time you got to Strawberry, it was early in the evening. The sky was a lovely orange, the moon was soft and only came out from the clouds every so often. The town was quiet and slow, unlike the other times you had been there.

Arthur helped you down from his horse that was hitched outside the Strawberry hotel. This was the first time he had held your hand out in public. He didn’t seem scared at all like he did once before in Rhodes. It seemed like the further away you got from the gang - _from Dutch_ \- the more Arthur felt free and bold. The two of you walked up and into the hotel.

“So why here?” You asked, “What’s going on inside that head of yours, Mr. Morgan?” You tried your best to keep yourself upbeat compared to his rough and gruff grumpy attitude.

He took in a deep breath, “Just wanted to get away for a bit,” He drawled. His face soften a bit as he looked at you, “Gonna make something good about this rather bad day,” And it was a bad day for Arthur. He had to deal with a swarm of O’driscolls in the grizzles because  _Dutch sent him out there to do it_ , even though they were... a god damn!! County away!! 

Arthur held the door open for you, making you feel flattered and your cheeks dust pink, “How kind of you,” You teased lightly. 

With a smile and a soft chuckle, he shuffled you in the door, “Come on,” He pressed a hand into your lower back which made goose bumps run over your skin. His voice was right in your ear too. Oh god. And so the smooth riding cowboy began his tricks.

You guys rented a room for the night and Arthur requested that there be a bath in that room too. As you walked up the beautiful wooden staircase, Arthur was very close behind you. He’d poke a finger at your rear end, causing you to giggle out and run up the stairs. He was quick to follow. You had so much on your mind - _Arthur_ \- that you didn’t remember what room you got.

Instead, when you looked over your shoulder to see Arthur’s devilish grin coming for you, you felt your heart leap and so did you... kind of. Bursting with giggles, you ran your self around the through the little hallway of the hotel. Arthur’s own laugh mingled with your own as the two of you played a coy game of catch me if you can.

He cornered you finally after a few minutes of running around a coffee table. Your back was pressed against the wall and Arthur pinned you there, looking down at you between his arms that trapped you there.

“Gotchya,” He leaned in close, his smile wide and even more handsome up close.  He went in for a kiss but you quickly turned your head. His lips landed on your cheek instead. This got him going.

You kept avoiding his kisses as you laughed at his frustration. You knew he loved these games you played. It was like being a teenager again in your old middle-aged lives. He finally grabbed you, both of his rough hands on your cheeks and keeping you from turning. 

“You got me,” You smiled at him. 

Finally! Arthur took sweet satisfaction in kiss your lips. He tasted like cigarettes and whiskey. But it was such a welcoming taste at this point. The stubble on his face prickled your cheeks once he took his hands away and replaced them at your waist. 

When he pulled away, a little out of breath, he grinned, “We should get to our room,” You nodded silently and took his head, following him as he leads you to room number 4. 

Inside it was low lit but warm and filled with the colors of a forest. Everything was either oak brown or deep pine green. There was a bath there too. The two of you stood in the doorway, a little overwhelmed by the room. Funny enough, you guys have never shared a bed, nor a room, nor got a hotel room either. You’ve been together for a few  _months_  now. But the gang always got in the way of the two of you spending time together or getting away.

“I know it’s not a lake,” Arthur was behind you, and very close. You could feel his breath on the back of your neck. Your mind was rattled with thoughts and feelings. You knew exactly what Arthur was trying to get at. He closed the door behind him as you stared there at that bathtub, feeling his hands snake up around you and to your sides, “But I think we can make do to have a little... fun again.”


End file.
